1. Technical Field
This disclosure is related to media streaming and, in particular, to media streaming in a peer-to-peer network.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Media streaming, for example, video or audio streaming, is a technology which can be implemented in various devices, including internet protocol (IP) cameras, mobile telephones or desktop computers using a web camera. Video or audio streaming is used by these devices to generate and transmit a compressed media file over the internet.
Various video streaming implementations are currently in use. Most implementations are based on browser/server (B/S) or client/server (C/S) architectures. These architectures typically rely on very high bandwidth for media delivery streaming. Another implementation uses peer-to-peer streaming, which requires much less bandwidth than B/S and C/S streaming.
Peer-to-peer streaming architectures can be classified into two primary groups: tree-based/push-based architectures and mesh-based/pull-based architectures. The tree-based/push-based architecture has low start-up delay, but it is less resilient to node failures. The tree-based/push-based architecture is also prone to bandwidth bottleneck issues. The mesh-based/pull-based architecture has a flexible large-scale ability, but it often introduces high latency due to data pull requests.